Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that appropriates $100 million for COVID-19 pandemic recovery assistance.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $10 million from the General Fund to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development to provide gap economic recovery grants to eligible businesses (Sec. 1-1).

• Specifies a grant will not exceed the lesser of (Sec. 1-6.c):

• 3 times the eligible business’s fixed monthly expenses for commercial mortgage or rent, insurance, electricity, heat, water, sewer service, telecommunications service, and Internet service; or

• $150,000.

• Authorizes the agency to exercise its discretion to give subsequent priority to eligible businesses based on whether and the extent to which an eligible business (Sec. 1-2.B):

• Was unable to operate because of the Governor’s declared state of emergency;

• Suffered an operating loss;

• Has received State or federal grants or forgivable loans;

• Will use funds to reopen or modify its operations to remain open;

• Will use funds to cover fixed operating expenses until the Governor’s declared state of emergency is lifted; and

• Is the primary source of income for a household.

• Appropriates $10 million of Coronavirus Relief Funds to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board in fiscal year 2021, which the Board will use, in part through grants to nonprofit housing partners and service organizations, for housing and facilities necessary to provide safe shelter and assistance for persons who are, or are at risk of, experiencing homelessness, or who have suffered economic harm due to the COVID-19 crisis, in order to mitigate COVID-19 effects and enable compliance with COVID-19 public health precautions (Sec. 2).

• Requires the Department of Mental Health, in consultation with the designated agencies, specialized service agencies, and peer organizations, shall give priority to proposed projects that meet one or more of the following criteria (Sec. 4):

• Create movement within the current system of care, such as those that would move individuals out of hospitals and other restrictive settings and back into a community setting;

• Focus on equity and on providing patient-centered care; and

• Employ or build on successful, evidence-based models of supportive housing.

• Requires the Department of Mental Health to report to the House Committees on Health Care and on Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Health and Welfare and on Appropriations with a summary of the use of the funds appropriated, including the amounts distributed or expended under each section, to whom the funds were distributed, and how the funds were used by each recipient or by the Department, as applicable (Sec. 7).

• Appropriates $700,000 from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to the Agency of Human Services in fiscal year 2021 for distribution in equal amounts to the Association of Africans Living in Vermont and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants’ Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program for various purposes related to COVID-19, including (Sec. 8):

• Interpretation and translation services related to COVD-19, including accessing testing and vaccines;

• Purchasing laptops and providing digital literacy for households to ensure that children can attend school remotely, that families can access telehealth services, and that adult family members can find employment;

• Providing case management services related to an increased need related to housing assistance, workforce development, and employment coaching; and

• Providing navigation of Reach Up, 3SquaresVT, and other public assistance programs following job losses.

Full Bill Text